[ 100 J 
for they carry on a very considerable 
trade with the fkins, the teeth, and the 
blubber of thofe animals, efpecially of 
the latter. So that we have reafon to be 
furprized, that not a iingle verlel with that 
view touched at the ifland during the 
whole time which thefe men pafTed upon 
it : and from this circumstance I am led to 
think, that the fiHierv turns out far more 
profitable on JVeJi-Spitzbergen, whither b 
feems they generally direct their courfe. 
Our men told me, that they had fre- 
quently found on the beach fome teeth, 
and even whole jaws of the feals, bm 
Ttever an entire' fkeleton of them.-' This is 
not'tb be wondered at, for when any of 
•thefe animals die upon the fhore, the white 
bears immediately eat the carcafe, and 
the foxes perhaps come in for a fharc. 
But the common food- of the white bears 
5f> me" dead whales, which are frequently 
JdSff* -floating about,- and fometimes arc 
•■wlft- onshore in' thefe polar regions. When 
thi p 
